Tag Archives: Lithuanian Jews

Jew of the Week: Emanuel Tanay

Emanuel Tanay (Photo Credit: John Lofy)

Emanuel “Emek” Tanay (1928-2014) was born in Vilnius, Lithuania and grew up in Poland. The Holocaust began while he was still young, and he spent the first part of it hiding in a Catholic monastery. After his father died in a concentration camp, Tanay led his family out of Poland, through Slovakia and Hungary, finding hiding places and falsifying papers to keep himself and his remaining family members alive. Following the war, he moved to the US and studied psychiatry. Tanay went on to become a professor of psychiatry at Wayne State University, and was internationally renowned in his field. He dedicated a major part of his career to treating Holocaust victims, as well as working with the German government to provide compensation for survivors. Because of his own experiences in the Holocaust, Tanay worked tirelessly for those suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). He was part of a group of scientists who got PTSD recognized as a real, treatable condition. At one point, he was described as “the nation’s premier psychiatric theorist on homicide”, and served as an expert witness in some of the most famous trials of recent history, including that of Jack Ruby and Ted Bundy. Meanwhile, Tanay worked for his local Jewish community, too, founding the Jewish Council in the town of Grosse Point, and serving as its president. Tanay wrote three important books, including his reflections on the Holocaust in a book called Passport to Life, highly praised by fellow Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. He appeared on numerous television shows, and his story is explored in the Oscar-nominated documentary Courage to Care. Sadly, Tanay passed away on the 5th of August from prostate cancer.

Words of the Week

If you wait until you find the meaning of life, will there be enough life left to live meaningfully?
– Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe

Jew of the Week: Benny Goodman

The King of Swing – America’s First Rock Star

Benny Goodman

Benjamin David Goodman (1909-1986) was born in Chicago, the son of a Polish-Jewish father and Lithuanian-Jewish mother, immigrants who met in the U.S. Goodman took his first music lessons when he was 10 years old at the local synagogue. By 12, he made his professional debut (playing the clarinet) at Chicago’s Central Park Theater. At 16 he made his first recordings with the Ben Pollack Orchestra. He would go on to play alongside some of the most popular bands and most famous artists of the day. His own band would appear in a number of films, and on national radio. Despite the open racism and segregation of the time, Goodman began working with African-Americans, and is considered the first major American musician to have an interracial band (which meant he had to avoid playing concerts in the Southern states, where interracial bands were illegal). This was a key step in opening the door for more African-Americans to enter the mainstream music industry. By 1935, Goodman was one of the central forces that ushered in the “swing” era. In fact, he would be crowned the “King of Swing” (in addition to the “Rajah of Rhythm” and the “Patriarch of the Clarinet”). He is often credited with inspiring the start of the “dance craze”, and some consider him “America’s first rock star”. In 1962, Benny Goodman made history when he was sent to the USSR – the first American band on Soviet soil. The tour was designed to ease Cold War tensions, and was hailed a great success on both sides after 32 concerts, including for Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. It was a symbolic start of the process of reconciliation between the US and the USSR. Goodman was voted the best clarinetist multiple times, was inducted in the Jazz Hall of Fame, and awarded a Grammy for Lifetime Achievement. His fascinating story was immortalized in a major motion picture, The Benny Goodman Story.

Words of the Week

God would not have preserved our people for so long if we did not have another role to play in the history of mankind.
– Theodor Herzl

Jew of the Week: Rabbi Dr. Immanuel Schochet

Rabbi Dr. Immanuel Schochet

Jacob Immanuel Schochet (1935-2013) was born in Switzerland to Jewish-Lithuanian parents. In 1951, the family moved to Toronto, and shortly after Schochet went to study at the Chabad Yeshiva in New York. There he became close with the Lubavitcher Rebbe, who encouraged him to pursue academic subjects. Schochet went on to earn a Master’s in religious studies and a Ph.D in philosophy, studying at the Universities of Toronto, Waterloo, Windsor and McMaster. He became an internationally renowned scholar of philosophy, mysticism and Hasidism, writing 35 books, translating many others, and penning countless articles (click here to read a selection of these). While serving as a community rabbi for over 45 years, he was also professor of philosophy at Humber College and professor of bioethics at the University of Toronto Medical School. Schochet lectured around the world, including at Yale and Oxford. He was a champion of the Jewish cause, successfully combating Christian missionaries, particularly ‘Jews for Jesus’, and openly challenged any missionary to debate him in public. A staunch defender of traditional Jewish beliefs, he was also critical of the Kabbalah Centre, as well as messianic movements within Chabad. His piety, wisdom, and love for Israel were recognized by all who met him. Sadly, Rabbi Schochet passed away on July 27th.

Words of the Week

Do not scorn any man, and do not discount any thing, for there is no man who does not have his hour, and no thing that does not have its place.
– Pirkei Avot 4:3